KX Riders
Maintenance & Technical => KX500 Original => Topic started by: DeadRinger on November 25, 2011, 08:04:18 AM
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Been awhile since I did a topend what are you guys sealing the head with nowadays? Dry? Rtv high temp? I used to use a yellow sealant but can't remember what it was. -DR
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are you not using the standard head gasket? on most other stuff i use blue hylomar ,i do believe rolls royce used to or still do use it!
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A "thin" coating of Yamabond 4 on OEM gasket....just cheap insurance.I do this everytime,EVEN after re-surfacing.Nothing worse than gettin your bike back together,just to have to tear it right back down cause of a head gasket!!
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Is yamabond 4 yellow? thanks for the tips guys I am using the oem gasket.
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no it's grey in color...ThreeBond is the same thing,and is usually more readily availible at dealerships.
Foxx
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Yeah, like Foxx said, Yamabond or Three bond
Works perfect for the "infamous" leaky KX500 head gasket
BTW - Foxx, love that Buckley photo of JOJo Keller doing the real original scrub.....man that brings back some childhood motocross memories
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Yeah,I had the privalige of growing up riding with JoJo...we lived 5miles away from each other here in Plymouth,MA for almost 25 years.The first REAL bike I bought was his 1985 Pro Circuit CR250...I was 14yo then.He's been living in New Hampshire the last 7-8months at a kids house that he's training.He spends alot of time at Jolly Rogers in Lempster,NH.
It's amazing watching him ride at 49yo,and 300lbs....and STILL spank the s%#t outa most of the NESC guys!!!
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Do yourself a favor and don't use the oem top end gaskets. They will only cause headache.
Cometic makes the best gaskets you can use. Don't use a fiber base gasket or it will suck in or blow out. Let me know if you would like to procure some. I also have the custom cut base gaskets from cometic that have the 1/4" KIPS drum holes instead of the big ones to help shim the KIPS. :wink:
Alex
Been awhile since I did a topend what are you guys sealing the head with nowadays? Dry? Rtv high temp? I used to use a yellow sealant but can't remember what it was. -DR
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I love reading interned bull $hit. Nothing for nothing but i've used Kawasaki OEM gaskets assembled DRY and not had one single issue over the past 23 years.
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my vote on headgasket sealer is spray on copper coat. Use it regularly
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I also used to assemble dry but started using sealant for extra insurance. Finished putting it together with yamabond 4 because I had a few tubes of that laying around for my VW motors. Thanks guys. -DR
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you're welcome D-R....you're right,it's cheap insurance that WORKS.There's a thread on here under "02 KX500 head gasket leak" if I remember correctly....and even Stewart suggests using grey sealer,even on a Cometic gasket and that will be a "done deal"...and I think I would take Stewarts advice LONG before I took anyone elses first.
Foxx
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I love reading interned bull $hit. Nothing for nothing but i've used Kawasaki OEM gaskets assembled DRY and not had one single issue over the past 23 years.
got to agree not a single problem with my old 85 and 88 500, but i never took the head off ,saved the money on the head gasket ,never got coked up with carbon ,right mixture,right jetting .
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you're welcome D-R....you're right,it's cheap insurance that WORKS.There's a thread on here under "2000 head gasket leak" if I remember correctly....and even Stewart suggests using grey sealer,even on a Cometic gasket and that will be a "done deal"...and I think I would take Stewarts advice LONG before I took anyone elses first.
Foxx
Too bad he doesn't post here anymore he had a head full of great stuff.
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you're welcome D-R....you're right,it's cheap insurance that WORKS.There's a thread on here under "2000 head gasket leak" if I remember correctly....and even Stewart suggests using grey sealer,even on a Cometic gasket and that will be a "done deal"...and I think I would take Stewarts advice LONG before I took anyone elses first.
Foxx
Too bad he doesn't post here anymore he had a head full of great stuff.
& my motor :x
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Yeah,I had the privalige of growing up riding with JoJo...we lived 5miles away from each other here in Plymouth,MA for almost 25 years.The first REAL bike I bought was his 1985 Pro Circuit CR250...I was 14yo then.He's been living in New Hampshire the last 7-8months at a kids house that he's training.He spends alot of time at Jolly Rogers in Lempster,NH.
It's amazing watching him ride at 49yo,and 300lbs....and STILL spank the s%#t outa most of the NESC guys!!!
JoJo is quite a rider, soooo much natural ablity it's unreal. That's why at 300 pounds he could and would still spank alot of riders today. I got to race with him in the NESC vet classes I could always tell when he was going to lap me. If he liked you it was buddy, buddy, buddy, if he didn't like you it was use you as a berm time. That's being power slammed by 500 plus pounds. (the gross weight and tonage rule applies here) Ah the memories of racing dirt bikes. And Paul Buckley is FIRST class too.
Oh Ya I use only oem gaskets and dry, unless I'm trying to mask a problem with machining or in a pinch that I have to reuse a gasket. (not in 15 plus years have I done that though)
Bob W
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You Southwick guys remember a fellow Leo Fauteaux (Think thats the spelling)?
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Comedic steel gaskets only for me
ALWAYS sprayed with permatex COPPer spray a gasket.. If not to improve seal.. It improves heat transfer...
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You Southwick guys remember a fellow Leo Fauteaux (Think thats the spelling)?
The name Leo sounds familiar,not sure about last name.
Does anyone here remember Capeway Rovers in Middleboro,MA?....in the fall season of 1983 JoJo's CR250 snapped a chain during his moto.So instead of pushing his bike back to the van,he squated down and scooped that thing up,got it on his SHOULDER,and walked it back to the van!.This was no short walk,it was roughly a hundred yard walk.He got back to the van,dropped the bike on the stand,borrowed a chain,threw it on,and went right back out 15 minutes after for his next moto,and won,never sitting and taking a break!.In my 32 years of going to the races,I have NEVER seen or heard of anyone doing anything remotely close to this.There's gotta be someone on here that wittnessed that also,or at least heard of it.
If I knew I had a problem that I was gonna have to "mask"...I would'nt even put it back together.
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Yeah,I had the privalige of growing up riding with JoJo...we lived 5miles away from each other here in Plymouth,MA for almost 25 years.The first REAL bike I bought was his 1985 Pro Circuit CR250...I was 14yo then.He's been living in New Hampshire the last 7-8months at a kids house that he's training.He spends alot of time at Jolly Rogers in Lempster,NH.
It's amazing watching him ride at 49yo,and 300lbs....and STILL spank the s%#t outa most of the NESC guys!!!
JoJo is quite a rider, soooo much natural ablity it's unreal. That's why at 300 pounds he could and would still spank alot of riders today. I got to race with him in the NESC vet classes I could always tell when he was going to lap me. If he liked you it was buddy, buddy, buddy, if he didn't like you it was use you as a berm time. That's being power slammed by 500 plus pounds. (the gross weight and tonage rule applies here) Ah the memories of racing dirt bikes. And Paul Buckley is FIRST class too.
Oh Ya I use only oem gaskets and dry, unless I'm trying to mask a problem with machining or in a pinch that I have to reuse a gasket. (not in 15 plus years have I done that though)
Bob W
When I was coming up through the NECC novice ranks JoJo, Doug Henry, Tim Meenhan, Pat Barton, alll those guys were top NE 125 pros's, and watching those guys duke it out at Southwick was truly amazing !! wish I had a FRACTION of their speed and balance on a dirt bike...
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Ahh yes,Pat Barton...he knew how to make his RM125 sing!!.Keith Johnson was another one that lived very close by too that I rode with periodicly,but he did'nt have the "free spirited" attitude/personality that JoJo had,he came from a wealthy family and chose to surround himself with the same.For the guys that are'nt aware,JoJo aquired alot of his skills by doing alot of Trials in his younger days,and he could/can ride a unicycle like he was born on one.And then there's his good friend Kevin Hines who lives the next town over from me that would go riding with him all the time in the extremely tight woods in Myles Standish State Forrest.
With all the little things he taught me over the years...like Polar-Bus said...I wish I had a fraction of the speed he's had!
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copper cote, use it on every gasket. sprays on like paint comes off easy for next rebuilt. great for sealing water jackets on head gaskets